Child Abuse

It is well documented that children who have been abused or neglected are more likely to experience adverse outcomes throughout their life span in a number of areas:

• Poor Physical Health
• Poor Emotional and Mental Health
• Social Difficulties
• High-risk health behaviors
• Behavioral problems

Based on data drawn from a variety of sources, the estimated annual cost of child abuse/neglect is $103.8 billion in 2007 value in the United States.

(This information was taken from the Prevent Child Abuse America website and is the result of a report funded by the Pew Charitable Trust)

Facts about Aware Central Texas

• Child abuse prevention works
• Established in Bell County in 1985
• It leverages a full time staff using trained volunteers (since it has been shown again and again that child abuse prevention works)
• Bell County has one of the highest rates of child abuse in Texas (20 deaths in 36 months in Bell County.)
• Studies have shown that 95% of inmates report having been abused as children
• Child abuse is passed generation to generation—an abused child becomes an abusive parent
• Parenting skills and anger management skills have shown to break the cycle of violence—it works now and it helps future generations
• Parenting is NOT intuitive—it is LEARNED
• Abuse and neglect can be physical, emotional or sexual
• Before 2003 there were 34 Family Outreach centers in Texas. In 2003 state funding was eliminated. All but 9 centers have closed. Because of the high child abuse rate in Bell County, the Board of ACT voted to continue its mission. The center relies on modest funding from the county and on local philanthropy, maximizing those funds through the use of trained volunteers. Its current operational budget is less than $75,000.
• The center serves the community through 3 distinct programs: 1) Parenting courses-working with the courts and CPS to target high risk families 2) antivictimization courses in the schools and 3) case management-a home visitation and counseling program working with families referred to the center by Texas Department of Child Protective Services, by schools, by hospitals and other agencies. Individuals may also self refer.
• Other groups in the community who target child abuse prevention include Healthy Families who work with first time mothers and Families in Crises who served families dealing with domestic violence and rape. ACT focuses on cross the board prevention providing services to families who fall outside the criteria of these other organizations.
• Current goals of the Aware Central Texas center: expand its professional social work staff and number trained volunteers to lower the casework load per worker and to better serve Central Texas.

2008 Statistics by County in Alphabetical Order

Here is a graph showing how these counties rank with respect to each other from highest to lowest for the number of child abuse / neglect reports per 1,000 children. The data in the graph were computed by dividing the number of reports by the child population in the county and then multiplying by 1,000.

Reports Of Child Abuse Per Thousand Children 2008

Notice that Bell County has the second highest rate (per 1,000 children) of reported cases of child abuse / neglect out of all 254 Texas Counties.

Here is a graph showing how these counties rank with respect to each other from highest to lowest for the number of child deaths due to abuse / neglect. The data in the graph were computed by dividing the number of deaths by the child population in the county.

Pecentage Deaths Per Capita 2008

As you can see, Bell County has a real problem with child abuse / neglect deaths when compared to other counties in Texas.

If we assume that the rate of deaths resulting from abuse / neglect is constant throughout Texas, then we can ask how often are abuse / neglect cases reported in the top ten counties. Below is a chart showing the number of deaths per thousand reported cases of child abuse / neglect. The more deaths that occur indicate a lower rate of reporting. In Dallas County, the rate of reporting is lowest. In Travis County, it is much better. Unfortunately, Bell County comes in second as a low reporting county.

Deaths Per Thousand 2008

Ranking of Top Ten Highest Rates of Child Abuse / Neglect and Child Deaths due to Abuse / Neglect by County